Red Velvet Cupcakes

Borrowing Zarah’s idea for making both miniature and regular sized cakes, I made a batch of red velvet cake and divided it up between two differently sized pans. We all know that everyone likes cupcakes these days. Adults can relive a moment of their childhood and children can, well, experience a moment that they can relive in the future.

The origins of red velvet cake are shrouded in urban legend, just like Neiman Marcus cookies or any other recipe urban legends. Be suspicious of the origins of any recipe that someone “was charged $250!” This is not to say that the recipes aren’t good ones. They are.

The name for red velvet cake comes from its red color. The most common story about the origin of the color cites a chemical reaction between the baking soda and the cocoa powder in the cake. If this were true, I think that most of my chocolate cakes would come out red. Leite’s Culinaria has some more information on the science behind the cake.
My personal belief is that some chef dumped red food coloring into his cake to suprise people or to be festive for a holiday. The outside of the cake browns enough to disguise the real color. Whatever the origin, I quite like this cake. I like the flavor of buttermilk, the hint of chocolate and the raspberry red interior of the cake. Even more than the cake, I like this icing. Mascarpone cheese makes it creamier and more interesting than an ordinary cream cheese icing. I love it with this cupcake because it lends an adult touch and makes the icing the star.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease cupcake tins or line with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla extract.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add in egg and beat until smooth. Add dry ingredients in 4 additions, alternating with 3 additions of the buttermilk mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Stir until just combined.
Spoon batter into prepared cupcake tins. Fill them 2/3 to 3/4 full, which will create nice, rounded tops.
Bake mini cupcakes for 15 minutes and regular cupcake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Yield: 7 large and 12 mini cupcakes, with more than enough frosting to top each one thickly (or 12 full-sized cupcakes!)

Beat together mascarpone and butter until well combined. Beat in vanilla and milk. Add in confectioners sugar, scraping down the bowl as you go. When it has all been incorporated, beat on high speed for 1-2 minutes, until icing is smooth.

This is my most favorite cake in the world. Orange cake comes second but since that is another southern cake, I rarely had it during my midwestern upbringing. Red velvet cake has been as elusive as orange until I moved to North Carolina 2 years ago. They even sell the Duncan Heinz cake mix in red velvet here which you never see in the north. Although the flavor is good, it is not as moist as a homemade one so it is kind of a let-down. Anyway, I heard a different urban legend about red velvet cake but it’s kind of gross so I won’t put details unless you want me to. As a hint, legend has it that a woman would add a special ingredient to the cake in order to get a man to marry her.

GENIUS! You’re a genius! Mascarpone frosting! Perfect! Because so far, I am just hating the flavor of the cream cheese frosting that’s traditionally paired with this cake. I think I’m going to have to try your recipe here…of the seven I’ve tried so far, only one has been a “wow,” but your cupcakes look gorgeous.

We don’t really have Red velvet cake here in Denmark, I’ve only seen it here on the web. Now I knew it was red but I had no idea that there was cocoa in it.
I really have to make this cake, I’d love to bake and taste a whole new cake.

I highly recommend this red velvet cupcake recipe! I use it for all my bake sales and it comes out perfect every time. This also tastes wonderful with the vanilla bean buttercream also on this blog, although it is an extra decadent touch.